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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



II III II 

014 647 209 6 , 



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PROTECTION OF TEXAS FRONTIER. 



SPEECH 



HON. GUSTAYE SCHLEICHER, 



OF TEX^S, 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



JUNE 30, 1876. 



-->^,^ 



1876. 



t 5^1 1 



\ 



SPEECH 



HON. GITSTAYE SCHLEICHEE. 



The House having under consideration the bill (H. R. No. 2C85) for the distribu- 
tion of the unappropriated moneys of the Geneva award- 
Mr. SCHLEICHER said: 

Mr. Chairman : I uow renew the motion that the House resolve 
itself into Committee of the Whole for the purpose of consider- 
ing the joint resolution reported from the Select Committee on the 
Texas Border Troubles. 

The motion was agreed to. 

The House accordingly resolved itself into Committee of the Whole, 
Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, in the chair. 

The CHAIRMAN. By order of the House the Committee of 
the Whole will now proceed to the consideration of the joint resolu- 
tion (H. R. No. 96) to provide for the protection of the Texas "front- 
ier on the Lower Rio Grande, which will be read by the Clerk. 

The Clerk read the joint resolution, as follows : 

Resolved, <£e., That, for the purpose of gi\'ing efficient protection to the country 
between the Kio Grande and Nueces River, in the State of Texas, from the cattle- 
thieves, robbers, and murderers from the l^Iexican side of the river, the President 
of the United States be, and hereby is, authorized and required to station and keep 
on the Rio Grande River, from the mouth of that river to the northern boundary 
of the State of Tamaulipas, above Laredo, two regiments of cavalry, for field serv- 
ice, in addition to such infantry force as may be necessary for garrison duty, and 
to assign recruits to said regiment, so as to All each troop to number one hundred 
privates ; and they shall be kept up to that strength as long as they shall be re- 
quired in that service. , ^ ,, . 

Sec. 2. That in view of the inability of the national government of Mexico to 
prevent the inroads of lawless parties from Mexican soil into Texas, the President 
is hereby authorized, whenever, in his judgment, it shall be necessary for the pro- 
tection of the rights of American citizens on the Texas frontier, above described, 
to order the troops to cross the Rio Grande and use such means as they may find 
necesssary for recovering the stolen property and checking the raids, guarding 
however, in all cases, against any unnecessary injury to peaceable inhabitants of 
Mexico. 

Mr. SCHLEICHER. Mr. Chairman, until quite recently the country 
between the Rio Grande and Nueces in Texas has not been known or 
thought of throughout the United States any more than the Feejee 
Islands. Few have known, and it will be difficult for many to real- 
ize, that for ten years a portion of these United States has been over- 
ran continually by invading bands of robbers from Mexico and that 
our people in that border country have for years been suffering all 
the losses and dangers to life and property incident to a state of war 
and invasion. 

Only lately, since the distressing condition of that border country 
has been submitted to the consideration of this Congress and since 
the eves of the nation have been drawn to it by the President in his late 



message, peoide begin to realize the alanuing state of tbat border 
■which fur years has harassed aud distressed the people of Texas. 

That coimtry, ten years ago prosperons and rapidly advancing in 
pojinlation and wealth, is now in sore distress. Its nutritions grasses 
and genial climate place it in the foremost rank among all the line 
pasture lands of our western country, and the population, which al- 
most entirely devoted its etibrts and means to the raising of stock, 
wereblcssed with extraordinary successand rapidly increasing wealth. 
But for the last ten years the rol)ber8 have depredated upon and step 
by step impoverished them. A committee of the last Legislature of 
the State of Texas reported to the Legislature " that of the vast herds 
■which but a few years ago covered the plains adjacent to the Mexi- 
can border, and which were such a source of profit to the thrifty and 
hardy herdsmen and great wealth to the State, scarce 10 per cent, re- 
mains to-day to compeusate the stock-raiser for his years of labor and 
toil." 

Captain McXally, in a report to General Potter, commanding at 
Brownsville, reported the following herds of cattle driven across the 
Rio Grande, near Brownsville, by the raiders to his own knowledge 
in seventeen days of November "last, from the dth to the 24th : 

On the i?tli of Xovembcr. a herd of one hundreil .iml twenty-five; on the Oth of 
Xoveiuber, a, licrdof one Imndied aud eijjhty ; on the 11th of ^s■ovenlber, a herd of 
one hundred and fifty ; on the 14th of Xovemher. a hird of one liundred and fifty ; 
on the 17th of November, a herd of two hunih'ed and fifty. On tlie I'.itli of Xoveni- 
ber, a lierd not counted crossed nine miles above Browiisville. About the 20tli of 
Xoveml)tT, two herds niimbeving five hundred ; on Xoveml)er 24. a lu-rd of three 
hundred, or between seventeen hundred and ei^;hteeu liundred head in seventeen 
days. 

When it is remembered that this was a few months ago, after the 
cattle of the country had been reduced by ten years of continued rob- 
bery, and when the raids might reasonably be j)resnmed to be checked 
by several fights with the raiders, an approximate idea may be de- 
rived of the almost incredible extent of this robbery. 

Thus, step by step, day by day, through weary years of alternate 
hope aud despondency, has this people, under the protection and al- 
most under the shadow of the American llag, been despoiled by the 
people of our neighboring country. 

The markets of all the Mexican cities and villages from Matamoras 
to Monterey have been supplied by the stolen cattle from Texas. The 
consul at Monterey stated that " the jtrice of beef in the city was 
re^ilated by the arrival of raiding parties from the north." 

Contracts for the deliverj- of large numbers of beef-cattle at Mon- 
terey were made and tilled by the raiders, and the cattle were taken 
thence further into the interior of Mexico by thousands. 

Cortina, the chief of the robbers, (whose history will be fotmd in 
the rei)ort of the connuittce,) mayor of Matamoras and brigadier- 
general of the Mexican army, as well as practically dictator on that 
border, not only supplied the.se markets, but undertook a contract to 
furnish beef-cattle for the Havana market by a line of steamboats 
and stocked his own numerous ranches in the interior with stolen 
cattle and horses. Captain McNally, whose evidence is always care- 
ful, well considered, and trustworthy, states : 

I am in possession of positive information concemipg animals stolen from the 
people of lexas and canietl into ^lexico. I can name ranches in that country 
upon whicli can lie founil -iO.OOO head of cattle aud horses stolen from Texas, still 
beariiifi the brands of the Texan owners. 

These vast robberies long ago would have exhausted all the cattle 
of that regi(Ui, but as the whole region north of this border-land is 



the great cattle-grouud of Texas, and settled by mimerous stock- 
raisers, whose stock roam at large — often a liundred or two hundred 
miles from the ranches of the owners — the cold north storms which 
frequently occur in winter drive large numbers of stray cattle before 
them to tiie south and toward the Eio Grande, thus continually bring- 
ing new prey for the robliers. Still a belt of about sixty miles has 
lueen almost stripped of cattle, and the raiders now extend their raids 
to a hundred and sometimes as far as a hundred and fifty miles into 
.the interior of our country. 

General Ord, commanding iu Texas, stated that the open country 
is virtually in possession of the raiders. The roads, formerly safe, are 
now impassable, except by large parties or under escort. The Mexi- 
can consul himself, traveling from San Antonio to Camargo, asked 
and obtained a military escort from General Ord. The Catholic bishop 
applied for a military escort on his circuit. The county judge going 
from one town to another needed a military escort. It is imx^ossible 
to execute the laws, as fear seals the lips of Avituesses and deters ju- 
rors and officers from doing their duty. When the raiders discovered, 
saj's General Ord, that a man on one rare occasion had sent informa- 
tion to the commander of Riugold Barracks, they murdered the man 
who sent and the boy who carried the message in less than a month. 

When they start out on a raid they come into the country by twos 
and threes, exciting no attention, and they all meet at a preconcerted 
time at a place of rendezvous one hundred miles or more from the Rio 
Grande. They then " round up " a herd of cattle and start with them 
at a full run for the Rio Grande. ^Ouce across the river, they are safe 
and laugh at pursuit. 

Although cattle-stealing is the first and principal incentive to the 
raids, they have gradually been connected with all other crimes. 
Stores and private houses have been robbed and burned down and the 
owners murdered. Travelers were robbed and murdered. Appended 
to the report of our committee will be found a fearful catalogue of 
crime. 

In the report of a joint committee of the Legislature of Texas iu 
March, 1875, it is stated — 

That murders to tlie number of one hundred and five have been proven by the 
limited evidence before tlie committee to have been perpetrated by these bandits 
and Indians within the past three or four years in the section of country below 
Eagle Pass, and the murderers invariably sought a refuge iu Mexico. 

Not only robbery, but revenge and terror are the motives for mur- 
der. 

While the Jlexican citizens of Texas, owners of land and stock, are 
thoroughly identified with us in feeling and sutt'er from these raids 
as much as American citizens, there is a floating population without 
any local habitation always scattered through the country on the 
Texas side of the river, who are generally in league with the raiders, 
and serve them as spies and informers. They are often employed as 
herdsmen or laborers at the Texas ranches, where they obtain a 
thorough knowledge of the localities and of the chances for i"obbery. 
They are all natives of Mexico, and their entire sympathy is with the 
robbers. Whenever one of the citizens makes himself prominent in 
assisting to break up or interfere with the raids, or gives information 
or evidence against them, the raiders are at once informed, and the fate 
of the man is sealed. 'They proclaim that he must die, and their 
threats are always carried into execution unless the doomed victim 
saves himself by flight into a town. A reign of terror rests upon the 
whole population. Boldly and defiantly the raiders ride up to any 



ranche in the country and demand fresh horses or anything they 
want, and no one ever dares to refuse them. The few citizens of the 
Mexican towns on the south side of the river, who are honest, law- 
aiiiding men and have been born and hold the property in those 
places, are overawed by the numerous robbers. It is believed that 
their sympathies arc against the robbers, but they dare not manifest 
them. The men in actual power share in the prolits of the robbers and 
assist in tlieir protection. 

Long imi)iniity and a life of comparative case and Large profits 
have attracted to that border all the desperate and vagabond ele- 
ments of the adjoining country. They and deserters from tlie troops, 
who have occasionally been sent there by the national government 
have swelled their numbers, so that these robber communities consti- 
tute the ruling power of the country. Cortina, who was the great 
robber chief, appreciating fully that his warlike and numerous follow 
ers made him respected and feared in a country where civil wars have 
almost been the rule and peace the exception and gave him the su- 
preme ]»ower, never hesitated to use his power for their protection. 
When Trevino, an alcalde or judge, dared to have two of his raiders 
and rfJibers arrested, Cortina shot and killed the alcalde with his 
own hand. Cortina lias by stratagem been arrested and carried ott 
from amid his followers and from the city which he ruled with the 
power of a pasha, by a bold officer of the national government, but 
the robber communities which he has built up have remaineil and 
are carrying on their nefarious pursuits. The large ill-gotton gains 
of the robbers, shared by the mercantile community and the officials, 
have demoralized the entire stateof Tamaulipa.s. Even the national 
officers, as notoriously Colonel Christo, who was the military com- 
mander, and whose false cunning and treachery is shown in our re- 
port and the evidence accompanying it,. have made themselves par- 
ticipants of the crime and its gains. 

It has been stated by many writers that the native robbers of Cali- 
fornia, who ])layed so conspicuous a figure some years ago, always 
assumed a patriotic and national character as against the hated in- 
vaders, the Americans and foreigners, and thereby gained the sym- 
pathy of the Mexican masses. The same is the case with our border 
robbers. 

The country between the Nueces and Rio Grande was in former 
times a portion of the state of Tamaulipas, and the inhabitants of 
that state have never overcome the feeling that they should be its 
rightful owners. Cortina has never failed to nuise the hatred of the 
Mexican populaf i(m against the " gringos," and to incite their hopes 
that the hated Americans would one day be driven back beyond the 
Nueces. When Roderick Dim, from his barren mountain home, points 
out to Fitz-.James the rich plains and valleys of the lowlands and 
expresses the bitter feeling of the conquered — 

These fertile plains, tliat softened vale, 

AVere once the hirthriyht of tlie (laol, 

The stjan;jer came with iron hand 

And from our fathers reft the l.iuu. 

He strikes a chord which vil)rates in the hearts of the Mexican people 
ever since the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and only too literally 
do their raiders carry out Roderick's threat — 

"While on yon plain, • 
The Saxon rears one shock of griiin ; 
While, of ten thoiis.ind lierds, there strays, 
IJut one along von river's maze, — 
The Gael, of ]>lniu ami river heir. 
Shall, with strong hand, redeem his share. 



God knows that they have taken their share, and their share, in 
their opinion, is all. 

We have the evidence that the present strength of the raiders is 
far above what could be overcome by the ordinary means of our local 
defense. General Ord, in stating that the open country on our side 
of the river was virtually hold by the raiders, says: "My force was 
entirely inadequate to check them or drive them out of the country." 
Captain McNally gives it as his opinion that five hundred of the best 
troops, if they would cross over and stay twenty-four hours, would 
never come back again. The raiders are bold and desperate men, 
splendidly armed with Winchester or Spencer carbines and six-shoot- 
ers; they are well mounted and in large numbers, and their organ- 
ization is so perfect that they will at once collect in the shortest pos- 
sible time at any threatened point. 

It requires a small army to meet the present emergency, and the 
longer decisive steps are delayed the more will the numbers and 
power of the raiders increase. 

Had I not seen in an influential paper the remark that Texas ought 
to defend herself, I would not have thought it worth while to say a 
word on that point. No one, I thoiight, Avould for a moment main- 
tain that Texas must defend that portion of the national boundary 
line which is in her limits. Single-handed and alone has Texas 
achieved her independence forty years ago, when the number of her 
people was little more than thirty thousand. True she had the sym- 
pathy of the American people and the generous help of hundreds of 
Americans who hastened to her aid. But would our State now ask 
help in open war against the same power when our people number 
nearly two millions ? 

But we do not wish for war. Protection and peace are all we ask, 
and we fear that acts of retaliation by our people, when goaded to 
despair, would bring about a war with all its horrors. Moreover, 
brave hearts and stout arms are not sufficient for war. We can have 
no army. When the republic of Texas yielded up her independence 
and became a. State of this Union, she yielded her power to make 
war not only, but she yielded the means. The custom-house duties, 
the internal revenue, flow into the coffers of the United States and 
are ours no longer. We have taken up our share of the public debt, 
and, whatever others may think, we at least mean to pay it honestly, 
and in honest money, greenbacks and all. How could we provide 
for a military establishment besides ? Out of our small means our 
people have year after year supported State troops to helj) out the 
protection of our Indian and Mexican border which we never with 
all our petitions could obtain ; our people knew that the National 
Government owed that protection, but they never could find it in 
their hearts to turn a deaf ear to the appeals for help coming from 
their brothers on the frontier. Poor as they often were these taxes 
were never begrudged ; for there is a strong feeling that binds Tex- 
ans together growing out of a history of their own, full of common 
sutfering and common glory. 

But if the defense of our national border would be thrown upon 
the frontier States, what would our Army be doing in the mean time ? 
Would it be standing guard, as has been suggested, over the valued 
persons of officers? This is no mockery, as might be thought. The 
theory that the protection of the officers was the chief duty of tho 
Army and that the States had to defend the national border, unless 
indeed invasion should come in the shape of an army with banners, 
has been gravely advanced, as will be seen by a reference to the docu- 



8 

nients attached to our report. If we could admit the correctuess of 
this theory, the soouer oiu- Anuy would be retired the better would 
it be. 

But it is not so. Our experience has shown that the army we had 
in Texas held far different views, and that from the commanding 
generals to the privates in the ranks they have been untiring in their 
efforts to give an much protection as was in their power to our scat- 
tered and exposed settlements on the frontier. Our people have 
marked their brave and cheerful bearing in hardships and danger, 
and their energy has given us such intervals of peace as our Indian 
frontier has la^dy enjoyed, and no voice from our State shall ever bo 
heard in detraction of their well-earned fame and their brave and 
kindly conduct. Theirs has been ilo life of ease, and the least they 
can claim at our hands is a Just appreciation of their devoted and 
arduous service. 

Our troubles do not extefid along our entire Mexican border. We are 
on the most friendly relations with the jieoide and the authorities of 
the states of Coahuila and Cliihualiua, and the raids only come from 
the state of Tamaulipas, where the people are demoralized or over- 
awed by the robbers, and the authorities are chiefs of robbers or par- 
ticipants in their ill-gotten gains. 

I am aware that not only the Mexicans have positively asserted 
that the raids were mutual and that robbers from Texas raided in 
Mexico as well as Mexican raiders in Texas, but that public opinion 
in the United States has been much inclined to believe it. Our re- 
, port disposes fully of the slander, and the most zealous investigation 
shows it to be totally without foundation. Mr. Fish himself, the 
Secretary of State, has emphatically denied the charge to the Mexican 
authorities and challenged them to ]>rove one single fact. They 
have not only failed to prove but even to detine one solitary case. 
The truth is tliat both tlie reward and the danger held out to such 
of our roaming people who might be so inclined would be such as to 
make the attempt utter folly ; for, while the American side of the 
river is rich and defenseless, the Mexican side is poor and bristling 
with anus, with a robber population always on the alert. 

E([ually untrue is the charge that our peojtle want more of the ter- 
ritory of Mexico and desire to provoke a war. Never was there a 
greater mistake, not to say slander. 

Sir, ever since the war with Mexico the frontiers of Texas have 
been harassed both by Indians and freebooters. The scenes of hor- 
ror that have been enacted on our Indian frontier beggar description. 
General Sherman in his evidence betore the last Congress stated that 
Ije i)assed on our frontier abandoned farms, remnants of fences, the 
blackened chimneys of burned houses, and all the evidences of former 
settlement, but the frontier settlei-s had been killed or tlriven back 
for many miles. No one who has not himself seen the terrible sights 
after an Indian raid, the bodies of men, women, and children nuiti- 
lated in wanton s})ort by the devilish cruelty of these fiends without 
mercy, brave men tied up and l)urned alive at a slow lire ; no one wh(» 
has not heard the tales of woe from female captives of our blood and 
race carried off and suTyected to umitterable misery, dragged naked 
uiuler the burning sun with their bare feet over stony roads, tied be- 
tween the horses of their pitiless captors, and then turned out into 
the barren wilderness to die alone, will ever know what our people 
have suffered. 

Our Legislatures have continually petitioned this Congress for pro- 
tection ; our governoi's have sought help from the National Govern- 



II 



9 

ment for long and weary years. For near thirty years wbich I have 
lived iu Texas uear the ludiau aud Mexican frontier I do not now re- 
member one solitarv day when we had peace aud a feeling of entire 
security on all points of our extended border ; nor do I remember one 
siuole year that our people did not tax themselves to keep up what 
force we could to afford that protection which we in vain called tor. 
Our country offers unsurpassed facilities for the herdsman m rais- 
ino- all varieties of stock. There indeed has the Lord tempered the 
wmd to the shorn lamb, and in the mild climate the cattle and horses 
find rich nourishment on our luxuriant grasses from one end of the 
year to the other. The wealth of our people wa^ always in their 
herds and flocks. It w^earies my memory to think of the number of 
cases where the fruit of long years of toil was swept away in an evil 
hour and of the men who Avent to rest at night prosperous and in easy 
circumstances to find thenisel ves paupers iu their old age m the morn- 

^"our people have hoped for peace with that hope deferred which 
makes the heart sick; and shall we wish for war now? The thougbt 
is madness. We want peace; we want no more territory; we wish to 
see our own vast territory filled with a prosperous population. 

If I shall express my own views as to the policy of this nation, i tUink 
that all the diplomatic efforts of the Government should tend to bring 
about a friendly intercourse with the Mexican government and peo- 
ple. I think that our embassy to Mexico might be made of more 
practical importance than any other, not excepting either England 
or France. We are and will forever remain neighbors, and whether 
our mutual relations be conducted prudently or otherwise our future 
historv for weal or woe will never be separated. Once dispel their 
apprehension that we covet their land and wish the disintegration 
of their nation, and they will see that we are for them the most use- 
ful friends. , r . i 4-1 „ 
Once before, when the armies of France overran Mexico and the 
empire of Maximilian was established, the United Staters upheld tlie 
sinking fortunes of the liberal government of Juarez, and it was their 
frown which removed European influence from Mexican soil, ihe 
croverument of President Lerdo is the. heir of the principles as well as 
the power of the government of Juarez, aud a worthy heir, and must 
retain the memory of that stormy time of its history, aud the memory 
also of those who were then the friends in need. Its enlighteuecl 
policv, its determined aM devoted efforts to raise the Mexican nation 
out of the sea of troubles on which it is tossing for so many years ami 
lead it to a safe and bright future, have gained for the present gov- 
ernment of Mexico the esteem and strong sympathy of the Ameri- 
can people. Why should not our intercourse be more extended ami 
made mutuallv advantageous ? Why should not our people nave the 
trade with Mexico which is now almost entirely m the hands ot Eu- 
ropean nations f A proper treaty of reciprocity and a prudent and 
honorable policy can bring about mutual relations satisfactory and 
advantageous to both nations. _ 

Ao-ain, I will say that our conduct should be just. While we must 
have protection for our people and enforce it if necessary, we should 
be careful to observe all our own obligations. The Apaches on the 
Chiricahua ageucv, which has been established in Arizona, have tor 
some time been engaged in desolating raids into the state of feonora, 
and the inhabitants of that state have suffered greatly. Care shouUl 
be taken that no such inroads are permitted on our part, and that 
the Indians are forced to remain on their reservation or removed to 
one more suitable. 



10 

While these are my views of the relations which we should observe 
with the people and j^overnmeiit of Mexico, I will further say that I 
can certainly not be charged with prejudice against the Mexican na- 
tionality. We have many Mexican citizens in Texas, and nearly all 
of them reside in the district which I have the honor to represent. 
I can say with pride that I have had the support of the great majority 
of them an«l have many evidences of their contidence. The Mexican's 
residing in Texas have, fnmi the very beginning of our separate his- 
tory, cast their lot with the Texans, and have been the steadfast and 
patriotic sons of onr country. The names of many are inscribed ou 
the i»ages of oi»r history. They were represented among the signers 
of tlio Texan declaration of independence and among the members 
of Congress of our Republic. They were with our people in the battle 
of San Jacinto, where the independence of Texas was won by the 
sword; and ever since they have shared onr fate in council or war. 
On the very ground where these raids occur they are numerous among 
the sntt'erers. and many have been conspicuous in the defense of onr 
border and in the predatory war with the invading robbers. They 
are true American citizens. Since the first years of my resi<lence itj 
Texas to this day they have been ray neighbors and friends. I claim 
to express their views like the views of all my other constituents. 
There is no animosity. or separation of the nationalities; a common 
destiny has melted all elements together. When I speak of my people 
I speak of them as of all the rest. 

I have thus fnlly expressed my views so as to place onr motives 
beyond all cavil and doubt. But I insist that the protection of our 
frontier and the emph)ymt'nt of all the means necessary to that end 
are imi)erative duties. One of the earliest necessities of society among 
all nations has been the punishment of crime by society to prevent 
its increase. This right and the recognition of its necessity are as old 
as the first elements of civilization. Witlnlraw the punishment and 
crime will increase everywhere. Now, in this case there has been a 
life of crime, of rapine, and murder, folhjwed for ten years in the 
open light <tf day and in bold deliance of all law, Inunan or divine, 
by a whole community. Their government, powerless to control or 
punish its criminals, yet sets up a claim that its teiritory must be re- 
spected, practically a claim for total impunity for the criminals. 
Onr Government, upon whose citizens they depredate, while knowing 
the weakness of the government of Mexico, yet acknowledged that 
feeble claim to the sacrednessof their territory, and yielded in obedi- 
ence to it the sacred right and the sacred duty of self-defense. No 
more Immiliating s])e(tacle has ever been presented than was ex- 
hibited on the Kio Grande again and again. Here the habitual de- 
s])oilers of our i)eople, with the stolen herds coming out of the river 
on the Mexican side, with insulting gestures and laughter and jeers, 
and on the American side of a river, which they could have crossed 
in a few minutes, our battled military protectors, perplexed with rage 
and shame, their valor and their couimou sense alike benumbed and 
paralyzed by dijdomatic lictions. 

It is the tinanimous opinion of all military men who are familiar 
with the localities that no ertici«>nt <lefense of the border can be had 
without the right of jinrsuing the robbers when found in possession 
of their Ixioty across the Kio (irande and until they are reached. 

I send to the Clerk's desk extracts from the evidence of Captain 
McNally and General Ord, given before onr conunittee, to be read : 

The Clerk read from the testimony of Captain McNally, as follows: 

Tlief e people wlio raid on Texas are not claimed by MesicanH as citizens of that 



11 

country- They say that they are outlaws aud murderers and that as far as they 
are able they stop their ciossi'ug, and they want us to assist them in doin;^ so. They 
desire that we shall render them all the assistance in our power to break that sys- 
tem up I believe that if orders were issued to our military authorities to pursue 
these bands to the other bank of the river and punish them so severely that the pay 
they "ot for crossin<r a herd of cattle would not compensate them for the risk they 
run in making the raid, it would be the most ettectnal and rapid way of breaking 
this thing up, without subjecting any innocent parties to harm. In carrying out 
that policy there is no probability that one innocent man would suffer. The gov- 
ernment of Mexico is unable to break this thing up. If President Lerdo were to 
send an oflticer down there honest enough to act vigorously against these fellows- 
and with a sufficient force to stop these raids, the state of Tamaulipas would be 
in revolution in less than three months. It is far distant from the capital. The 
entire federal army of ISIexico has its hands full in restraining the interior state*; 
from revolting, and it would be impossible for the president to coerce tliis state. 
He has not force enough. This information I received from federal officers in 



would kill all these fellows." That I think would be the quickestaudmosteflectuai 
remedy for the breaking up of the cattle-thieves, for so long as these robbers flud, 
on the' opposite bank of" the river a place of refuge and a city where they can dis- 
pose of their plunder without danger so long will they continue to raid upon Texas. 
It would cost the United States Government more money to guard that border than, 
the whole state of Tamaulipas is worth ; I mean, to guard it so effectually as to- 
prevent these men fi-om coming over. 

The Clerk also read the followiug from the testimony of General 
Orel: 

After examining the country, which I found to be a dense thicket along the river, 
with here aud tliere nanow paths or cattle-roads cut through, (which thicket ex- 
tends sometimes twenty or tAventy-tive miles from the river toward the open plain.) 
and from the fact that the giazing country to the north is about the same distance 
from the river from its mouth for live hundred miles up the river, I came to the 
conclusion that it was impossible to guard the river-banks by a system of small 
posts or videtles, for the reason that the cattle-thieves can receive notice from the 
rural population (who are nearly all Mexicans) of the location of the troops. I sat- 
isfied myself that the only way to protect the property of the people on that front- 
ier and to prevent these raids was to cross the river whenever the troops struck a 
trail with the prospect of overtaking the cattle-thieves. They cannot see them 
come throuah this thicket or chaparral, and they cannot know that they are coming 
on any particular road except only by accident. They can only get upon the trail 
in the' rear and follow them, and as these cattle-thieves go mounted and at full run 
the prospect of overtaking them before they get to the river is more than doubtful ; 
it is next to impossible. The local authorities on the Mexican side, being under 
the influence of this lawless population, which I have described, and being some- 
times their leaders, are averse to restoring any property, and I believe they have 
never yet shown any disposition to do so, no matter how strong the proof of the 
guilt of the party or the evidence that the property is within their reach. These 
officials havefreiiuently engaged in these cattle-raids aud have boasted of the suc- 
cess of their enterprise. Under these circumstances, and in view of the power- 
lessness or inability of the Mexican government to enforce its own laws, or even 
to protect its own propertv, we cannot expect them to protect ours, and I consider 
it not only justifiable, btit'the duty of the United States authorities, to enforce the 
security of our own border and to protect the people from invasion. 

Mr. SCHLEICHER. All declare that the power of the troops to 
cross after them will break tip the raids very soon. The very knowl- 
edge of the existence of such power willjconvince them that hereafter 
their trade w^ll be rather dangerous, and one or two examples will 
probably suffice to break up the whole organization. Observe that in 
the proposition presented by us the crossing is not made obligatory, 
but is a reserved power to be used only where all other means shall 
fail. Can the Mexican government object to it ? They cannot form- 
ally agree to it, because the pride of their people would take offense 
and they would lose politically too much by making such concessions. 
But common sense should conclusively show that it would be the 
height of absurd pretense that they should demand of us not to molest 
their criminals wliile they them-selves are powerless to control them. 



12 

If this authority is resorted to, it will be a necessity incideut to our 
st'lf-«lefense. They cannot in reason present the alternative that we 
should either continue to sutler the innuids of these robbers or else 
incur their displeasure. As early as l-7:i, Mr. PMsh has declared that 
this must be the last resort. 

It has been said that the pursuit of the robbers across the 
border shonhl be left to the discretion of the conmiandin^ officer, 
without a special authority by Conjjjress. We have considered this 
proposition and could not approve it. The President has in his mes- 
sage submitted this matter to the cousideration of Con;iress, and if 
we reco<?nize the necessity of the action which we projiose it would 
be unworthy of Congress and unjust to the Executive and the olticere 
of the Army if we should escape the responsibility and place it entirely 
upon tlieir shoulders. We do not propose to direct that pursuit should 
be made, but leave the President the judge of the necessity when it 
shall occur. 

The revolution which has for some time been going on in Mexico 
on and near our border had temporarily changed the condition of 
things in this, that the Mexican government had entirely disap- 
peared from tiie scene, and that at one time the revolutionary lead- 
ers, Portirio Dia/ and others, held iiossession of the entire country 
on our border. This has lately again changed, as the revolution- 
ary forces have abandone'l Matamoras and uuirciied to the interior ; 
and General Escobedo, connnanding the forces of President Ler- 
do's government, has appeared at the head of au army an»i occupied 
Matamoras, Camargo, and other places. On his arrival at Camarg<», 
Gem?ral Escobedo sent a letter to General Ord advising him of his ar- 
rival and expressing sentiments of friendship aud good-feeling on the 
jiart of his goNcrnment. 

Tiie chaiacttT, tlie high positicui, and the power of General Esco- 
bedo led to the lielief that crime would lie rigidly i)unished at least 
while he would be ou our Ijorder with his army, and that he would 
rigiilly enforce <irder. l?nt it behooves this Congress to consider well 
what tlie prosjiects for tiie inunediate future really are. Up to the 
:itith of May tiie accounts of robberies have continued. It is true that 
they have decreased both in freijuency of occurrence as well as in 
magnitude because the great bnlkof the robber i)oi>ulation had joined 
the army of Porlirio Diaz, the rev<dutionary leader, on liis march to 
Monterey, and have remained in his army ever since. IJut the raids 
have never entirely ceased. On the l.')th of March, Major Clendennin, 
commanding at Kinggold Barracks, reported to General Potter, at 
IJrownsville : 

I tliiiik th(> cnttle stealing has been transforred from tlie lower Kio Grande to 
tlie vicinity of Cnripo and points above. I cannot suard tin* fords with thirty nieu. 
I ask to be relieved from the re.>(iM»iisibility of coiuuiaud here at ou'ce. I have uo 
troojis of my own arm of service, cavalry. '. 

He stated what he saw; iiut cattle raiding was going on ahuig the 
lower Kio Grande as well, as we .see from statements from tliat ijuar- 
ter. A tight between raiders and citizens took place on the 7th of 
April below Hrowusville. 

I will send to the "Clerk's desk some reports of otir papers and also 
the official report of Cajitain McXally to the a<ljutant-general of the 
State of Texas. These accounts will not only show that the raids are 
continually occurring. but also that in ourconfulence in the presence of 
General I'^scobedo and his army and the preservaticm of order and 
safety thereby we have again been grievously mistaken, as we were 
HO manv times before. 



13 

The Clerk read as f ollo\ys : 

[From the San Antonio Herald.] 

MEXICAN DEPREDATIONS. 

■We were pleased this morning at receiving a visit from J. C. See, of Laredo, who 
is at present in our city on a visit. 

"We learn from this gentleman that on the night of the 18th instant a party of 
Mexicans, from the other side of the Rio Grande, stole thirty-eight head of horses 
and two yoke of oxen from Mr. Slaughter's herd, in charge of Mr. George High, on 
the Carizo. Mr. High followed the marauders on the dayfollowing, and came upon 
the oxen, which had heeu abandoned. The pursuers, however, did not reach Pre- 
sjdio del Norte, on the Eio Grande, until after the thieves, with their booty, had 
crossed over, which is the usual upshot of all attempts to capture Mexican horse- 
thieves when they once have the advantage of a few hours. 

Mr. See also tells us that three days ago there was a tremendous rain on the Frio, 
and there had been some also on the San Miguel ; but none whatever between that 
creek and the city. 

[From the Brownsville Sentinel.] 

Edinburgh, May 19, 1876. 

Editor Sentinel : Yesterday I acted as interpreter for Captain McXally. He 
sent a message for Seiior Desiderio Rodriguez, president of the ayuntamiento of 
Reynosa, to come and see him. Seuor Rodriguez came in response to the message 
of Captain McNaUy, who demanded of him the restoration of the rest of the stolen 
cattle — amounting to twenty-two or twenty-three head— and the surrender of the 
thieves that escaped, of which he gave a list, as follows : Abundo Mungia, Lino 

Perez, Candelario, a' son-in-law of Abunda Mongia, Garza, Eusabio 

Mancias, Andres Cavazos, and one or two others. 

Seuor Rodriguez was greatly agitated when he first came over, and during the 
conference. He promised to deliver the cattle and thieves and gave his word to 
that effect; but, up to the time of writing, nine p. m., no cattle or thieves have been 
delivered. ) 

Seuor Rodriguez sent a communication to General Escobedo, in|brming him that 
the Mexican territory was invaded by Americans. Fifty men anu an officer were 
sent to protect him. 

The stolen cattle were crossed by the thieves into General Encohedo's picket lines! 
This is fi'om reliable persons, and Captain McNally and Lieutenant Farnsworth, 
United States Army, did not hesitate in informinjf Seiior Rodriguez of the fact. 

Last evening Captain McNally had a guard stationed in front of the " Sabinito " 
ranch, where the thieves crossed the cattle, and where they reside and are protect- 
ed by the Mexican authorities. The thieves fired across tlie river at the guard that 
night and again in the morning. Fortunately none of our boys were injured. The 
fire of this morning was returned, but without effect further than that a house was 
pretty badly riddled from the fire of our boys. 

A ranger just in from the scene says that the Mexican authorities had sent a 
force to capture the thieves. The ranch was surrounded but the game was not to 
be found. They had timely warning to make themselves scarce. It is well known 
that the parties concerned in this cattle stealing reside at this ranch with their 
families and have all their interests there. 

Captain McNally crossed over with three men and had a good view of the den 
and saw the trailof the cattle. They were driven in the direction of Reynosa. 
Sabinito ranch is about four miles above Reynosa. The wounded thief is in that 
city under medical treatment. 

this is the same gang of thieves that murdered Mr. Cleaveland some time ago, 
and also made an atteiupt to murder and rob Mr. Estapa, of this county. 
More anon, 

OJO. 
[From the Galveston News.] 

Sax Antonio, May .30, 1876. 

Yesterday Alejos Gonzales and eight of his hands followed cattle-thieves near 
Eagle Pass. Tliey came up with them, thirty in number, at Comanche Creek, 
thirty miles east of Eagle Pass, and engaged them in fighting from nine a. m. to four 
p. m. The battle resulted in victory for the robbers ; they killed Gonzales and four 
of his men. The other four escapeil, and report five of the robbers killed. 

Alejos Gonzales, who was recently killed by robbers near Eagle Pass, was quite 
a young man, and raised in San Antonio. He did quite a large mercantile business 
in Piedras Negras. 

Grandham, Texas, May 19, 1876. 
Sju : I have the honor to report that on the night of tlie 17th I followed a gang 



14 

of raitlers (nuinberinjj ci^ht or teiU to the river, at a point five miles above Edin- 
burgh. It was very <lark — ten o'cloek p. m. — and my tiiiiile inissnl thi- trail, de- 
taining us about tliirty minutes, so that by the time I reached the river they had 
crossed all the aittle but seven or teu head, and there were but tour men on this 
bank, two of whom were killed, one wounded badly, and the other escaped. The 
firiu}: commenced from the other side as soon as my men came in si}:ht. For fear 
of accidents I had instructed my men not to tire until they were close enough to 
make sure shot. 

We got six horses, saddles, and bridles, and their camp equipage, consisting of 
cottee-pots, cups, blauket.s, i-opes, SiC. 

I at once wrote a note to Captain H. J. Famsworth, Eighth United States Car- 
alrj', stationed at Edinburgh, asking him to assist in recapturing the cattle. He 
came up next morning (18tli) with fifty men. but refused to cros«, and .■*uid that ho" 
would assist me in recrossLug if he was satisfied that I would be unabli- to get back 
without his help, but would regret the necessity of so doing, and advised mo not 
to go. 

Some of my Mexican guides thought that a part of the cattle were .just back of 
the lanch. the Sabinito ; so I cro.ssed with three men and searched tlie fields ad- 
joining the ranch, but found no cattle ; saw the trail leading straight to Keyno.sa, 
distant but one mile ami a half, and, as Captain Famsworth told me that General 
Eacobedo had a large force there, I recrossed. 

I then went to Eiiinburgh aiul sent for the alcalde of Reynosa ; told him of the 
afliiir and asked for the return of the cattle as soon as the> couhl be found, to- 
gether \vith the thieves. He promised to return the cattle ami arrest the thieves 
and have them punished. On urging a compliance with my Jii.st deinand, he prom- 
ised to send the thieves over .secretly as he was afraid to do .so publicly. 

Captain Farn.sworth and the sheritt'of Hidalgo County assisted at the interview. 
Captain Famsworth told him that he intended to sunpoxt me fully in everything I 
saw j)roper to do in the matter. This evening; the chief of the rural police told mo 
that they were making a very determined etloit to catch the thieves, and thought 
they would succeed. 

General Escobedo and stafT were in Captain Farnsworth's camp while these 
thieves were crossing the river and driving beeves inside Escobedo's lines for 
bieakfiwt; and Escobedo's band of twenty pieces that he hail brought to Farns- 
worth's camp wa-s playing in our hearing when we commenced firing on the raiders. 

I believe there is .some correspondence going on between General Escobedo and 
the United States autliorities at Fort Brown in regard to the matter. 

We leave this place in the morning for Laredo and ' ' * . 
■Verj' respectfully, 

L. H. McNALLY. 
Captain coinmatidituj. 

Oeneral Willi.vm Steele. 

A true copy. 

WM. STEELE. 
AdJHtantGetural State 0/ Texas. 

Mr. SCHLEICHER. But oven if Goncral Escohedo bad the will 
ami tlie power to restrain tliis robliiiig, we could not expect tliat the 
Mexican government could leave him and their army on that remote 
frontier. Already we hear that he is about leaving or ha.s left for 
the interior and that the notorious Colonel Christo, who was in com- 
mand during the worst part of the raids, who proved his bad faith 
and complicity, as fully shown in our report, is again left in com- 
niand at Matamoras. 

We have reports that the revolutionarj' army under Diaz was de- 
feated in the interior of Mexico. If it is so, or whenever it does occur, 
thousands of fugitive stragglers, the di'bnx of the defeated armies, 
demoralized, desperate, starved, and ragged, will be turned loose on 
our devoted frontier. The same people have tauglit us the same hu- 
miliating les-sons for teu years. We know where they are ; we know 
that for years their business has been the robbing and murdering of 
our i>eopie, and we can almost count the weeks and tell the day when 
their hungry bamls, worse than so many starving wolves, worse than 
the devouriiig cloud.s of locusts, will again arrive on our exhausted 
frontier, the accustomed theater of their infamous activity. 

But another unexpected change has again occurred in the la.st few 



15 

days. Again the revolutionary army has defeated the government 
troops under General Quiroga on the Rio Grande, and even now they 
may be again in full power on our border. Cortina, the old robber 
chief, the old enemy of our people, has broken his jiarol in the city 
of Mexico, has escaped, and is now in high command in the armies of 
Porfirio Diaz. Every day may see him on the Rio Grande again, 
breathing vengeance and defiance at the head of thousands of hia 
robbers. And still our border lies open and unprotected. Shall the 
dark clouds break upon the devoted heads of our exi)osed people or 
"will you help them ? 

Mr. Chairman, your committee have shown the startling condition 
of that portion of our country by evidence as clear and undoubted 
as the light of day. 

The facts presented to you are formidable in their long array and 
astonishing by the light they throw upon the condition of that coun- 
try. Murder most foul and revolting, robbery on a scale so stupen- 
dous as to make the most undoubted facts appear like fiction, all 
committed for long years by constant invasion of our country under 
the very shadow of the flag of our nation, flaunting its false and de- 
lusive promises of protection to the despairing sight of our abandoned 
people. 

We have shown that all appeals to the Mexican authorities and 
all hopes of redress and safety from them are vain and worse than 
nseless ; that between the duplicity of the Mexican government, 
induced perhaps by their weakness, and the bad faith and complicity 
of their local authorities, all we ever received at their hands were 
empty promises, always broken and never relieved by a single act of 
good faith. We have shown that to promise our people help and re- 
lief through the Mexican government would be a cruel mockery, and 
that all that remains for them to look to is solely and alone the im- 
mediate and energetic action of onr nation. Will the members of 
the national Congress let the people on our outposts turn their eyes 
to them for help in vain ; and have they no heart for those "who are 
bound to them by the sacred ties of nationality, those ties which so 
lately were made indissoluble by your blood and your treasure? 

Sixteen years ago Governor Sam Houston closed a letter to the 
State Department on the same subject with these words : 

Our entire means of defense now in the field is inadequate to the protection of 
the country from Indians, and we must depend for the protection of the Rio 
Grande on the nation. Believing that when the facts are presented to Confess 
the dictates of humanity will rise above all party or personal considerations, I yet 
look for aid from that quarter. The American heart must feel for a people of like 
race and kindred ; and though sectional considerations may prevail at times they 
will, I believe, be forgotten when the catalogue of barbarities, by which our front- 
ier has been devastated, is remembered. 

Sam Houston has gone to his grave, btit his appeal, unheeded in 
the passions of those days, addresses itself again to the representa- 
tives of the nation of which he was one of the most devoted citizens. 

Texas is the young giant of these United States. Born amid the 
storms of battle, her early days spent under the severe and sober 
teachings of toil and sorrow, she only now enters upon a career which 
will before long make her the peer of the foremost State of this Union. 
When these dark days shall have passed into history, when in the 
enjoyment of peace and prosperity her fertile plains jshall bear the 
rich reward of the toils of the honest husbandman ; when the shaded 
banks of her rivers and her smiling valleys shall resound with the 
busy hum of peaceful industry ; when the teeming herds and flocks 
will browse undisturbed on her extended plains and her green hill- 



16 

sides: whon she will have taken the rank among lier .sister States 
■which the millions of her hanly people will assign to her, then she 
-will hear in gratef nl memory the names of those who were her friends 
■when friends were needed. 

If the history of our country has taught any lesson, it is that the 
policy which is wisest and most successful is not the policy of heart- 
less calculation, hut that which wins directly the heaits of the peo- 
ple. Fear and hatred are weak bands to bind this great coiintry per- 
manently together. The power of deep-rooted patriotism alone is 
equal to the task. Love of country, that most ennobling of the vir- 
tues of man, that feeling which in all ages has made men heroes and 
caused them to pour out their blood like water, is the firmest founda- 
tion of States; and no wise statesmanship has ever neglected the op- 
portunity to sow its seeds in tlie fertile soil of the hearts of the peo- 
ple, and to foster its growth by all means in its power. When the 
generation which will follow us in our .State shall hereafter remem- 
ber the dark times through which their fathers are now ]>ai-8iug ; 
Avheu they remember that their mothers -sat through tiie long and 
weary nights, their eyes strangers to rest, and their frightened ears 
hearing the yell of the merciless robber in the moaning of the night 
wind and in the distant howl of the prairie wolf, then let them re- 
member also that at the time of their utmost peril their nation 
stretched forth its strong arm and interposed its protecting shield be- 
tween them and ruin. Then their hearts and the hearts of their 
children and their children's children will cling to their country as 
with hooks of steel. Who can tell the future f Who w ill say that 
the day will not come when their blood, freely shed on some future 
field of l)attle, may maintain and save their country's honor and in- 
tegrity ? 

Your duty to the sulTering citizens of your country, and far-seeing 
■wisdom alike, call on this Congress for magnanimous and prompt 
action. Not only will it save those who have a right to look to you 
for aid and protection, but, like bread cast upon the waters, it will 
return to bless the giver after manv davs. 





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